Acedia Torres
'Acedia Tor'res Prax (Legally registered in the galaxy as Acedia Torres due to a clerical error) was born on Kiffex under Black Sun's governing, into the Tor clan. The Tor clan was a traditionalist one, refusing to modernize or trade with any off-worlders beyond what was deemed absolutely necessary. Accordingly, Acedia was raised with mistrust of anyone not belonging to her own community and still sometimes experiences difficulty with what she regards as 'advanced technology'. She had chosen to alter her appearance for much of her adult life to minimize any unwanted recognition although this is for the most part futile due to her prominent facial tattoo that remains unchanged.In addition to that well known facial tattoo Acedia had four black bands around her wrists for feats of strength (one for each near death experience,struggle or prominent battle), a string of triangular lines down her left inside forearm (one triangle for each tattoo she's done on someone else), a yellow band on her upper left forearm denoting her membership in the Prax clan and functioning as a classic Verrun Dehre bonding tattoo with her lover and partner Stella Matyas, a triangular spiky wreath of black lines along collarbone and down her breastbone as representative of exile from her clan, an elegant elongated v on her lower stomach to bring fertility and luck, two thick black chevrons on each leg, mid calf, one for each successful duel, some long curling lines along her thighs and shins for speed and strength, a dagger with a bird of prey insignia in the pommel on the edge of her right forearm, 'Eyes of Pegrotis' on the back of her neck as a blessing and protection, and on her back a large dominating depiction of a Nexu in black outline, reared and snarling in a more illustrative style than her other tattoos having been done by a different, non-kiffar, artist. Early Life and Exile At the age of 18, having struggled since childhood to become a highly skilled warrior to please her exacting mother Eridina Tor and not having succeeded for the most part, Acedia was informed by the leader of her clan that her mother had been killed during a raid by a neighbouring clan. Unable to avenge her in the desired way, due mostly to Acedia's doubts of the truth regarding the death, she was ceremoniously expelled from the clan and branded with a sigil of banishment (a series of broken black lines tattooed just below her collar bone). She settled in a nearby city, and began to puzzle out the exact details of her mother's death. Further Exile and the Magic's Bar Era After moving from the clan's territory to the confines of a city, Acedia found herself in the company of several individuals who disliked the rule of Black Sun on their home world. Whether their various claims of sentient rights violations, torture, executions and other assorted atrocities were founded in actual fact is currently up for debate, but Acedia was convinced by them. And became convinced that her mother had been executed by Black Sun, though there was arguably little grounds for such belief. Eventually, she became leader of these Kiffar Nationals, under the advisement of a secretive mentor known only as Unasahen (later discovered to have been her biological father Quinthro Prax Vandron),gaining a reputation for shrewd decisions and curiously glaring oversights. After quite a few years leading this underground movement, she was found out and given the choice of public execution or exile. She arrived at Magic's Bar & Restaurant three months later. Out of luck and brilliant ideas, she accepted a job there, surprising herself by enjoying the company of non-kiffar sentients. She bonded particularly with co-worker Johnathan Vercet and his brother, Matthew Vercet along with Owen von Ismay and the other regular customers there. The brief happiness she had there ended in her witnessing Matthew's death at Owen's hands. At the trial, she was outed as an Eidolan employee, a job she had only recently taken on, further fracturing her and Johnathan's already quite precarious, often outright hostile relationship. After a final altercation between them, she left Magic's Bar and joined Eidola, full time. Eidolan Era At a loss for what else to do, Acedia embraced her status as piratical, terrorist scum. She moved to Tortuga, started running small errands for a tavern owner, buoyed by his promises of her very own refurbished CR-90, a villa on one of his moons, and a head bar tending job at his tavern. Only one panned out. And the Drunken Pirate was a different environment than Magic's. There, bartenders were treated as more than employees, and almost more than equals. At the Pirate, they were less. Ground down and dispirited by the drudgery of her surroundings, she became depressed and did only the bare minimum of what was required of her. On a routine raw materials run, nearing the last leg of the journey, she received word that the sentient directly above her in the chain of command, Rav Isaar, had been executed, as well as one of the few people she'd bonded with, Zachai Dracolis. Both of them by bounty hunter Calista Hawke (who also happened to be Zee's fiancé). According to Calista's own words, she was coming after Ace next. A sitting duck in hyper, without significant weapons, about to make re-entry in Eidola space, who she believed had given her over to the bounty hunter, she was at a loss, believing this to be the final chapter of her useless biography. Until contacted by an utter stranger. New Republic Academy Era A friend of a friend who saw a damsel in distress he could aid. And, appropriately enough Acedia found a knight in shining armor. Through a third party, a pickup was waiting for her as she exited hyper, leaving her superior's ship to float. After her experience there, she was loath to go back to Eidola, and felt in need of a fresh start. After talking to Owen Von Ismay and getting his recommendation, she applied to The New Republic Naval Command. And spent 4 months in academy training, learning everything she already knew about piloting again. It was mindless work, and it suited her at the time. She kept to herself, feeling for the first time in a long while that she was where she ought to be, and the fact that she and Koroth Blackthorn, a fellow Kiffar had become quite a bit more than simply acquaintances didn't hurt at all. Turner Securities Limited Shortly after joining the New Republic proper, after having finished her training there, Acedia began frequenting Helljumpers Night Club. Upon meeting the owner, James Turner (known then as Azazeal Ventrue), she requested and received a job bar tending there, soon falling into a routine. As her acquaintance grew with James and the rest of the House Turner she began to decide to leave the New Republic, who had so far not shown her anything but mild distrust. Upon joining Turner Securities Limited she became Executive Officer of Task Force 7, Helljumpers. At about the same time, the pickup which had arranged through the NR arrived at Helljumpers Night Club. By unbelievable chance, it was Johnathan Vercet who was sent to fetch her. The meeting began civilly enough but soon deteriorated, due in part to Acedia's belligerence and in part to Johnathan's. She was incapacitated by a guard under Johnathan's orders (after having been attacked by John himself) and carried onto her transportation. While in the infirmary recuperating on her way to Sullust, she was approached by and apologized to by John. While not entirely convinced, she accepted his apology, believing that that was part of what was needed to allow Johnathan to move on from his brother's death. While she was working in Helljumpers, she made the brief acquaintance of Sate Vandron, who remembered her striking features, attitude and by chance, last name. When he received a package salvaged from his deceased father's possessions including some letters addressed to Eridina Tor, his memory clicked and he searched Acedia out. Meeting at a café, their first interactions foreshadowed their relationship as siblings. For that's what the letters revealed. Sate's father Quinthro Vandron had had a brief liaison with Eridina resulting in Acedia's birth two years before Sate himself was born. Sate's insistence on learning more about his origins and the Kiffar culture prompted Acedia to finally return to the planet with him. Ostensibly a brief sight-seeing visit, it soon descended into an attempt to retrieve Sate after he was captured by an irate member of a rival clan. This attempt led to the death of a very good friend of Acedia's, Lukan Pyso. Following her return from Kiffex, she began to examine her life, shaken by Lukan's death and aware of her own mortality. Silhouette After much internal debate, Acedia made the decision that had been hanging in her mind for months. Electing to leave Turner Securities Limited, in favour of another security faction, Silhouette, Acedia made the choice to intensify her drive (one always at the back of her mind) to retaliate against Black Sun. Seeing Silhouette as a vehicle toward that, it was the natural choice to further her training as a combatant and tactician as well as allowing her to ally herself with people of similar motives. Her whereabouts were unknown after the fall of Silhouette. Acedia had gone out of contact with anyone who knew her. Speculation on her fate was muted, as it was around the same time as a more prominent figure in the galaxy, Coeus Ahlstedt disappeared, overshadowing the small buzz a minor figure such as her would generate. She had effectively ceased to exist for all intents and purposes. Degeneration After the fall of Silhouette, Acedia reemerged along with Coeus and many other former employees to form the Paradigm Laboratories organization. A medical group initially interested in charitable works, it soon fell into disarray with the capture of Coeus Ahlstedt for espionage and various suspected crimes of similar nature. Acedia was deeply affected by the loss of her mentor and lover to imprisonment, and rumours of torture being performed on him unsettled her daily. Her personal actions became erratic and unpredictable, taking lover after lover in an attempt to fill the void left by his loss after it was apparent that he could not be rescued, and would not be released. Her professional life blossomed though, as she was made second in command of the floundering medical corps. She was close to settling down for a brief moment in time when she reconnected with Jason Ramius, a young man she'd known in her days bartending on Banrock Station and later for the Turners on Hudriel. Spending a few too-perfect days with him, she was finally seeming ready to move on from her grief. Unfortunately, that was not to be. A man, Syvvik Zhylton, came forward claiming he was Coeus, despite the physical change. He proceeded to 'prove' this with many things Acedia believed that no one but the dead man and she had shared. Explaining this to Jason, and apologising that she had to leave him, she for all intents and purposes accepeted this new man as her old lover and the father of the child she had been carrying since shortly before his capture. They spent further time together until the charade fell apart, and Syvvik was revealed to have been deceiving her this entire time. Feeling deeply betrayed, she fled to Hudriel, to relay the news to Jason, and apologise for her hastiness and the emotional harm she had inflicted. She was too late. Jason had committed suicide a week earlier, brought on by her spurning and his empathy to her while she was intimate with the imposter. Feeling deeply culpable, she fell into deeper grief than she had heretofore experienced, plagued by nightmares and perceived visitations of the twisted imaginings she devised of Jason's lasts moments. Torturing herself with her guilt, she began to descend into madness just as the man she mourned had. After an attempt on her own life was prevented by Stella, at that point living with Acedia on The Kerhavt, she seemed to improve until finally succumbing to her madness and desperation to be free of the guilt. A month after that initial attempt, Acedia Tor'res-Prax was found dead in her quarters on her treasured Kerhavt, ceremonial dagger protruding from her throat by her live-in partner, and the one who had striven to give her solace, Stella Matyas. Acedia's remains were cremated in a ceremony on her homeworld, among the Prax, and her ashes let to the winds from the top of mountain in the Seigher Range by Stella accompanied by her brother Sate Vandron. She is survived by no children. Category:Individuals